The Youngest Ramon Returns
by Mickey00
Summary: It's been 8 months since the events of Ari's kidnapping and things are just starting to calm down. Until, Ari discovers something new and slightly dangerous. OK, a lot dangerous. Tio is the only one that knows of this discovery and the two intend to keep it that way. But what happens when things start to go haywire? Updates every Tuesday!
1. Chapter 1

"How long have you known?"

"About two weeks. I wasn't sure at first, but now, well-."

"How did you get them?" Tio asked, running his fingers through his short curly hair.

Ari thought for a moment before replying, "I was here when the particle accelerator exploded. It must've affected me. It makes sense, Tio. I'm getting my powers late. Cisco and Caitlyn got their powers late."

The couple was in Big Belly Burger, in a booth in the corner, hoping no one would see Ari's powers.

Tio nodded, looking at Ari's hands again.

"Tio, what do I do? I-I can't control them sometimes," Ari asked.

Tio thought for a moment then said, "Tell the team." Ari's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No way! Cisco would flip!" "Ari, if you can't control them, you need to tell the team!" Tio encouraged.

"No. Who knows how'd they react, Tio? Things are just calming down from the Damien thing. I'm not going to bother them with something else," Ari said.

"But Ari, who knows what's going to happen if you don't tell them," Tio argued.

"I'm not telling them, Tio. Not yet. Wait 'til things calm down with this Dr. Alchemy guy and this new speedster," Ari argued.

Tio started to say something when a glass of water behind him exploded, making the couple jump. "Did you do that?" he whispered.

Fear filled Ari's eyes as she looked down at her hands. She hadn't even realized that she'd clenched her fists.

Two weeks ago, Ari had begun noticing changes. When she was angry, random things would explode, when she was happy things would float, when she was sad, more things would explode, etc.

"Ari," Tio said slowly.

"Tio, stop. I'm not telling them," Ari argued. Ari noticed they'd been arguing a lot…

Tio glanced at the broken glass and spilled water before looking back up at his girlfriend. "I won't tell anyone," he promised.

Ari looked from her hands, to the glass, to Tio. "Tio," she began worriedly.

Tio went over to her and placed one hand on her arm and the other on her cheek. "Hey, it'll be ok. We'll figure this out."

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck.

* * *

"Why're you just now telling me this?" Barry asked, running his hands through his hair.

"We didn't think it was important. But with Caitlyn getting powers, well, it's possible she's getting some too," Cisco explained.

The three were in the lab and watching over their shoulders cautiously, hoping Ari wouldn't walk in.

"Did she have powers in the other timeline?" Caitlyn asked.

Barry racked his mind before shaking his head. "Not that I can think of. I remember after she got kidnapped thought you two were acting weird around her."

"So she probably did," Cisco groaned, sinking into a chair.

"Hey, it's not for sure that she has powers. It could've been wrong," Caitlyn said. She was trying to be as optimistic as she could, but knew that it was more than likely that Ari had powers.

Cisco put his face in his hands. "We already lost Dante. I don't want to lose Ari as well."

"Cisco, listen to me. We're not going to lose Ari. She's a smart girl. She'll tell us if she's got any powers," Caitlyn encouraged.

"Oh yeah, just like she told us about Damien and nearly got herself killed," Cisco said, standing and walking to the Cortex.

Caitlyn and Barry followed him and Cisco suddenly turned around, looking at Barry. "Would you talk to her? She can read me like a book, if I ask her about it she'll see right through me."

"What? Why me?" Barry asked. "Cause I'm not that close to her like you two are," Caitlyn explained, catching on. "Exactly! She might spill something about noticing any powers. You know that most of the time she's not that good at keeping secrets," Cisco added.

"She is too good at keeping secrets! Remember Damien? She kept that hidden for almost two months," Barry exclaimed.

Cisco sighed. "C'mon Barry, please? I know it's a small chance, but it's still a chance."

Barry sighed before saying, "Fine. I'll try to talk to her."

Cisco grinned. "Thanks man. She's at Tio's house right now. I think they're helping Violeta learn English."

Barry nodded and sped off.

* * *

"You almost had that one, Vi! Could you try again?" Ari asked the young girl gently.

The seven yr. old, who was just beginning to get her two permanent front teeth, stuttered, "M-My name is Violeta."

"You did it! Good job!" Tio encouraged happily, making the young girl grin from ear to ear.

Ari grinned at the brother and sister, enjoying the happiness. It'd been about two hours since Tio found out about her powers and so far nothing has exploded or floated. They had labeled her powers as telekinesis and were both working hard to keep them form surfacing.

Violeta started to say something when Mrs. Espinoza called, "Ari! _Uni amigo suyo esta aqui_! (A friend of yours is here)"

Ari and Tio glanced at each other before getting up and going to the living room, where Barry was standing.

"Oh, hi Barry. What's up?" Ari asked in confusion.

"Hey Ari, I was wondering if you would wanna go to Jitters?" Barry asked.

"Right now?" Ari asked, confusion lacing her voice.

Barry nodded. He could only hope that she was buying this.

The couple glanced at each other briefly before Ari said, "Su-ure."

"Awesome! Ready?" he asked.

She pecked Tio on the cheek. "Don't tell Vi or anyone about the telekinesis ok?" she whispered.

He nodded and pecked her cheek as well before she left with Barry.

"What was that about?" she asked as they walked to Jitters.

"What?" he asked.

"Barry Allen, you're hiding something," she said.

"I'm not hiding anything. You and I haven't gone out together in a while," he said.

She gave him a confused glance as they walked into Jitters. Tio's house wasn't that far away.

"So, I have a question for you," he said.

They quickly ordered their coffee then sat at a table.

"Shoot," she said, sipping her lemonade.

"Have you noticed any changes at all?" he asked quietly.

She choked on her lemonade a bit and said, "Barry if this is heading where I think it is, I've already gone through puberty."

Barry turned as red as his Flash suit. "N-No, not that kind of changes. Like, have you noticed any changes as in making anything happen?"

Ari nearly choked on her lemonade again. _Crap_ , she thought, _he's onto me._

"N-No, not that I can think of," she lied.

He saw right through her. "Are you sure? Ari, it's ok if you have, it's not bad."

"I haven't," she said firmly.

She wasn't telling him. Things needed to calm down first. Then she would. This isn't going to turn out like Damien. She was sure of it.

* * *

 **A/N: That's the first chapter of The Youngest Ramon Returns! I hope y'all enjoyed it. I'm going to try to update every Tuesday. I'd love feedback in the comments! Thanks guys! TTFN!**


	2. Chapter 2

" _Whoa_!"

Tio ducked as a rock went flying at him. "Sorry!" Ari shouted, putting her hands on her head in stress.

This made another rock fly into the air and Tio quickly said, "Ari, put your hands down."

Ari's eyes went to the rock and she threw her hands to her sides, making the rock thump on the ground.

"I'm sorry! Tio, this isn't helping anything! What am I going to do?" she groaned, sitting on the bench behind her and Tio walked over, sitting next to her.

The two were in a more secluded part of the park, testing out Ari's powers. It wasn't going that well. "Tio, what should I do?" Ari asked quietly. Tio paused before saying, "Ari, you know what I think you should do." "Tio, I can't tell them. Not yet. I want to be able to control first," Ari replied.

"Ari, I know you have the ability to control it in you, but what if you have a spasm or something? They're going to find out at some point," Tio replied.

Ari nodded. "It's not going to turn out like Damien," she muttered. Tio suddenly understood and his face softened. "Is that what you're worried about? It turning out like Damien?" he asked gently.

She nodded softly, not looking at her boyfriend.

"Ari, look at me," Tio said. When she didn't, he knelt in front of her, taking her hands. "It's not going to turn out like Damien. Damien was a monster. It wasn't your choice to keep that a secret. He was forcing you to. You have a choice with this one, it's nothing like that situation at all."

Ari nodded and hugged Tio, wrapping her arms around his neck. He wrapped her arms around her waist and the couple hugged for a minute before separating and standing.

"Where should we go?" Ari asked.

"You don't want to practice anymore?" Tio asked in confusion.

Ari shook her head. "That's enough for today. If I keep getting frustrated, one of us is going to end up hurt."

Tio nodded and laced his fingers in hers. "What about having a movie night with your brother? I think he's wanted to marathon the Lord of the Rings movies for a while."

Ari smiled, nodding. "Sounds good."

The two headed to Cisco and Ari's shared apartment, managing to only get into one argument about her powers. And that was only when she accidently made a street light explode because she got excited about something.

* * *

Once they reached the apartment, they found Cisco already there, making something in the kitchen. "Hey, you two. What's up?" he asked, looking up briefly.

"We were wondering if you'd like to have a Lord of the Rings marathon tonight?" Ari asked, to which her brother lit up and looked at the couple. "Are you serious?" he asked. The two nodded and he threw his hands in the air. "Yes!" he shouted, making the couple laugh.

Cisco made popcorn and Ari got some ice cream from the freezer and the three had an awesome night of movies, laughter, and spending time together.

* * *

"Hey, do you guys hear something?" Ari asked in the middle of the second movie. Cisco paused the movie and the three listened.

"Yeah, it sounds like someone's whistling. Is there someone in the hallway?" Tio asked.

Cisco got up and went to the door, looking out it before closing it and turning back to the teenagers, shaking his head. "There's no one out there," he said softly.

The three listened as the whistling grew closer and closer. "Someone's outside," Tio whispered. Ari got up and looked out the window just as it exploded.

"Ari!" Cisco and Tio shouted.

The two raced to the girl who was covered in broken glass. "I'm fine, I'm fine, just a small cut. What was that?" she asked, brushing the glass of and standing.

"I don't know, but I doubt it was an accident," Cisco said, looking out the now broken window.

"Did you do that?" Tio whispered, helping his girlfriend to the couch. Cisco ran to get the first aid kit and Ari waited till she was sure he was gone before whispering, "I don't know. I might've."

"What'd you see out there?" he whispered.

"I-I don't know. I saw a blur of something before the window exploded," Ari whispered just as Cisco came back.

He cleaned his sister's small wound on her arm before wrapping it in a bandage. "You sure that's the only spot you got cut?" he asked, knowing she tended to know tell people when she was hurt.

Ari hesitated.

"Ari," Tio said slowly.

The girl sighed before saying, "I think my waist got cut a bit."

"Are you for sure?" Cisco asked.

"Both of you close your eyes," she ordered. The boys looked at each other before squeezing their eyes shut.

Ari raised her shirt and gasped lightly before saying, "Yeah, I'm sure."

She quickly put it back down and the boys opened their eyes. "Alright, well, you're not going to let us wrap or clean it for you, so let's go get Caitlyn," Cisco said.

"Cisco, it's almost midnight, she's not going to be awake," Ari said as Tio made her stand.

"Ari, I'm not letting you bleed out. Don't give me that look, I heard that gasp. I know you're bleeding, little sis," Cisco said.

* * *

The three got in the car and went to STAR Labs, talking about what could've blown up the window. Well, Tio was mainly trying to keep Ari's mind off her wound. Both he and Ari knew she probably made it explode, but Cisco didn't.

Ari was slowly becoming paler as the drive drug on. Normally the drive to STAR Labs was quick, but there was traffic and wreckage from (the three were guessing) whatever the whistling had come from.

They finally made it and Ari as barely talking anymore. "Cisco, are you sure she's here?" Tio asked as the two boys helped Ari inside.

"Yeah, she always stays late," Cisco explained.

"Cait!" Cisco shouted when they entered the Cortex.

Caitlyn jumped and looked up from her work, widening her eyes at the pale Ari between the two boys.

"What happened?" she asked, standing and running over to them.

"Long story short, Ari's hurt and we need your help 'cause she won't let us see it," Tio said.

They brought her to the infirmary where Caitlin kicked the boys out, took the glass out of Ari's side, and stitched her up. Ari fell asleep and Caitlin let the boys back in.

"She's going to be fine, just needs to rest," Caitlin assured and the two boys relaxed.

"What happened?" Caitlin repeated.

Tio explained and Caitlin's face slowly fell into a shocked/worried expression. "Cait? What's wrong?" Cisco asked.

"I've been getting alerts from all around the city about a strange whistling noise, then something would explode. I was just about to call you and Barry," Caitlin explained.

' _So it wasn't Ari,_ ' Tio thought while looking at his peacefully sleeping girlfriend.

"It wasn't _WHAT_?!" Cisco and Caitlin shouted, making Tio turn around.

He'd just said that out loud.


	3. Chapter 3

"Tio, what do you mean it wasn't Ari?" Caitlin asked.

"Uh, did I say it wasn't Ari? No, I-uh- I said-."

"So she _does_ have her powers," Cisco said, more to Caitlin than to Tio.

"She must've been hiding them or something. Tio, how long have you known about Ari's powers?" Caitlin asked.

Tio blinked. "You knew all along?!"

"Well we didn't know she had them yet. We knew she was going to get them at some point though," Cisco said.

"She doesn't want you guys to know about them yet because she can't exactly control them," Tio explained.

"What are they?" Cisco asked slowly.

"Telekinesis. A very powerful kind," Tio explained.

Cisco and Caitlin looked at each other. "We'll talk to her about them when she wakes up. Right now she needs rest," Caitlin decided.

* * *

The next morning around ten, Ari still hadn't woken up.

Tio and Cisco were currently explaining the previous night's events to Barry and H.R.

"So the girl has powers after all?" H.R. asked.

"How'd you know about them?" Cisco asked. "Eavesdropping," he said. Cisco began to argue with him until they heard, "What's going on?"

The group turned to see Ari slowly making her way out of the infirmary.

"How're you feeling?" Tio asked, running over to make sure she was ok.

"Better. What's with all the looks?" she asked, looking at her friends.

"Why didn't you tell us about your powers?" Cisco asked, crossing his arms.

Ari's eyes widened and she turned to boyfriend. "Did I break that window?" she asked, her voice more of a squeak.

"No, that wasn't you. Caitlin said there were other reports of the same thing happening," Tio assured.

"But Tio, remember yesterday at the park? You saw how far my powers can go," she said.

"Ari, calm down. It wasn't you. The other reports weren't even close to us," Tio assured, helping his girlfriend to a chair.

"Ari, maybe if you show us your powers we could see if you could've even done-," Barry began.

"No," Ari said firmly, "I'm not using my powers. Not if I was the one that blew up those windows last night."

"But we don't even know if it is you," Cisco said.

"I'm not using them," she said stubbornly.

The group sighed and Caitlin began to say something when the alarm went off, causing Ari to jump. She was still jumpy and skittish around certain things, due to the Damien events.

"It's the guy from last night," Caitlin said, looking at the monitors.

"On it," Barry said. He sped off, only to return twenty minutes later injured. Nothing that a few minutes of resting couldn't handle, but still injured.

"I couldn't see the guy, he was covered by something every time I tried," Barry said.

"See, you couldn't have done that. You were here and that was all the way down by the police station," Tio said.

Ari didn't answer but nodded softly.

"We had a guy somewhat like this back on my earth. No one ever saw his face. He was called Phantom," H.R. explained.

"Sounds like he and Ari somewhat have the same powers," Tio said.

"Ari, if you show us your powers, maybe we can help you control them and-," Caitlin began.

"No! It's too dangerous!" Ari said. She got up and went to her brother's lab.

"We need to find a way for her to us her powers. If we can help her control them, maybe she could take this guy down," Barry said.

"Tio, she said 'yesterday in the park'. Have you guys been trying to control them?" Cisco asked.

Tio nodded. "It's not really working though. Every time she uses them I can see she gets scared and things go haywire. She's nearly hurt herself using them twice."

"She shouldn't use them if she's going to hurt herself," Caitlin said.

"Tio, could you talk to her about it?" Cisco asked.

Tio nodded and ran off to the lab.

After thirty minutes of arguing and debating, Tio returned with a hesitant but determined Ari.

"Fine. You guys can train me," she said.


	4. Chapter 4

"Guys, I don't know about this," Ari said, hands shaking slightly.

"It'll be fine, Ari, you don't have to use them for very long, just long enough so we can see how strong they are," Cisco assured.

The group was currently in the same spot where they tested Barry's speed for the first time, and Ari was trying to stall as long as she could. 'The group' consisted of Barry, H.R., Caitlin, Cisco, and Tio.

"Guys, I-," she started. "Ari, it'll be fine," Tio assured. She looked at him and he gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs ups. She gave him a shaky smile then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

She focused and rose her hands up, eyes still closed.

"Whoa!"

Ari's eyes shot open and she saw that she'd raised the tent and car that the group had been next to. "OK, now set it down _gently_ ," Cisco said, eyes on the equipment and car. Ari looked from the group to the objects, growing worried. "Ari. _Lo tienes_. (You got this,)" Tio said.

Ari nodded and slowly put the objects back on the ground. "I did it!" she grinned. She ran over and hugged Tio, who wrapped his arms around her.

"Great job, Ari. Now le-." Barry was cut off when the group heard the sound of rushing wind, but felt no wind. Then they heard it. The whistling.

Tio and Ari separated and the group saw a small, black whirlwind appeared. "Hello, girl," the voice said. It was a deep voice that had sort of an electronical sound to it. Before anyone could do anything, Barry sped after Phantom, only to run right through him.

Phantom made some barrels rise as he said, "Let's see how strong your powers really are." "Guys, get out of here!" Ari shouted as the barrels came flying towards the group. Ari thought quickly and tried to use her powers. The barrels slowed, but were still coming, due to Phantom still having hold of them.

"Ari, behind you!" someone shouted. She turned and the van was flying into the air. She looked at Phantom and could faintly see a face.

The face she said made her lose all control of her powers. The barrels flew towards her, knocking her down. The car began to fly towards her as well, but Barry sped back and jumped in front of Ari, just barely being able to hold it back. Ari scrambled up, but began shaking.

She managed to make it out of the van's angle, and so did Barry. "Ari!" Tio shouted. She turned and just barely saw something fly towards her before whatever it was hit her and she hit the ground, groaning. Someone helped her up and Phantom said, "You're power are strong, but you are weak, girl. Your powers will destroy you if you don't gang control of them."

He disappeared and Cisco rushed over to his sister. "You ok?" he asked, looking her over. She nodded, still shaking and unable to take her eyes off the spot Phantom just was.

"What happened? You like froze or something," H.R. asked as the rest of the group came over as well. "I-I saw his face," she managed to say. She was shaking so badly Cisco made her sit down and Caitlin handed her a water bottle. "Who was it?" Cisco asked, kneeling next to his sister, who still hadn't taken her eyes off the spot Phantom had just been.

"D-Damien. It was Damien Costello. He's back."

* * *

 **A/N: So sorry for the huge hiatus guys. Also sorry for the extremely short chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer and try to make sure it's up by next Tuesday. Sorry again guys.**

 **Feedback is much appreciated!**


	5. An Apology-Author's Note

I don't even know where to start. I am _sooooo_ sorry for that huge break everyone. For those of you that are still waiting for an update, I'm here to tell you that I'm going to be updating here pretty soon. I'm going to try and pre-write all the chapters so all that I'll have to is post it. I don't know when it'll be up, but keeping an eye out for it, everyone. :)

Thank you all of you for reading this! TTFN!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After double checking that Damien was still in the pipeline, everyone gathered in the Cortex. Well, everyone except Ari. After seeing Damien in the pipeline, she got very quiet and told Cisco she was going out and that she would be back later. Tio almost went with her but decided that she need some space.

The team was sitting in the Cortex, trying to figure how Ari saw Damien's face. "Maybe it was post traumatic stress disorder? It would be understandable if she was even the least bit affected bit after what she went through a few months ago. Cisco has she been showing any signs of having PTSD?" Caitlin asked.

Cisco thought for a moment before slowly saying, "People with PTSD have.. strange.. triggers don't they?"

Caitlin nodded and Cisco went on, saying, "She refused to eat, buy, or even look at apples. She used to love apples. She doesn't tell me about small things like why she gets up in the night and I've noticed she's been really irritable. It's almost like she doesn't trust me or something."

"It sounds like she does have PTSD," Barry said and the room was quiet. "Where'd she run off to?" H.R asked.

"Probably the track. She's been going there a lot lately, especially when she wants to be alone," Tio said.

"I'll talk to her," Cisco said as he walked out.

* * *

Ari ran another lap and as the image of Damien grew clearer in her mind, she picked up the speed. Soon she was running full speed and the image was still there.

She slowed to a stop and knelt over, putting her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and trying to get the image out of her mind. "You ok? I haven't seen you run that fast in a long time," a voice asked, making her look over. She saw Cisco stand up from the bench he'd been on and walk over to her.

She straightened as he handed her a water bottle and nodded a thanks to him, taking a long drink from it.

"I'll be fine," she said quietly. She walked over to the bench and sat down, Cisco joining her. "You know, we haven't been as close as we used to be since Dante… passed away," Cisco said.

"He didn't pass away, he was murdered by that drunk driver," Ari muttered angrily.

Cisco paused before saying, "How're you holding up? I know we were both a mess when we got the news, but we haven't really been able to talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about," she replied, not looking at Cisco.

They were quiet before she said, "So why'd you really come here? Cause I know it wasn't to talk about Dante."

"Caitlin thinks you might have some PTSD from the Damien situation."

Ari stiffened at the mention of Damien, keeping quiet. "Ari, if you ever need to talk about what happened, I'm happy to-." "I know, Cisco. Um, I need to keep practicing. Tryouts for cross country are coming up," she lied, standing. She'd missed cross country tryouts.

Cisco sighed with a nod. Ari started to walk off before turning back and saying, "I want to keep training. My powers, I mean. Phantom was right, I need to get control of my powers."

Cisco, a bit caught off guard, nodded and said, "We can start back up tomorrow if you want." Ari nodded, but still seemed stiff. "See ya," she said and began jogging, slowly picking up the pace. Cisco left, heading back to STAR Labs, not feeling much better than when he came.

As he heard the sound of rushing wind, he didn't think of much of it. Until he didn't feel any wind. Then he heard it.

The whistling.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back y'all! Updates might be scarce, but there will be updates. I currently don't really know where I'm going with this, but I've got a vague idea. Encouraging comments would be nice! TTFN! Ta ta for now!**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Cisco froze and turned, seeing the same black whirlwind. "What do you want?" Cisco asked, keeping his voice steady.

"Training the girl is smart. But she won't be able to control those powers. I was barely able to," Phantom said. The whirlwind landed and slowly disappeared, revealing a man in a black skull mask and all black clothes. His voice still had a mechanical sound to it.

"Ari's strong You don't know her like I do. She'll be able to control them," Cisco defended. "And if she can't? What then?" Phantom asked.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Cisco asked, growing irritated as he crossed his arms. "Ah, yes. I almost forgot," Phantom said. He raised his hands in the air and thrust them towards Cisco.

At first nothing happened. Then several rocks rose from the ground and flew towards Cisco. It almost happened too quickly for him to do anything, but out of instinct he put his arms in front of his face in an attempt to protect himself but he knew it wouldn't do any good. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the impact.

But nothing happened.

"Leave my brother alone! I already lost one, I'm not losing another!"

Cisco put his arms down and looked up, seeing the rocks frozen just inches from his face. Ari was not too far behind Phantom with her arms outstretched. Cisco knew his sister was the one keeping the rocks from hitting him. He also knew she wouldn't be able to hold it much longer so he scrambled out of the way.

Phantom turned and Ari lowered her arms, making the rocks drop into a large pile next to Cisco. "Huh. Stronger than I thought. I see the exhaustion in your eyes though, girl. You're not strong enough. Your powers will destroy you. That is, if I don't do it first," Phantom said, voice low. Anger boiled inside of Ari.

"Why're you targeting me? What'd I do to you?" Ari asked angrily. Phantom froze. "You honestly don't know? You took _everything_ from me!" he spat. Before Ari or Cisco could react or do anything, Phantom raised his hand in the air and Ari flew up with it.

" _ARI!"_ Cisco shouted. Phantom chuckled darkly and lowered his hand. He made the whirlwind reappear and flew off as Ari came flying down. Phantom had thrown her a ways away and Cisco knew he wouldn't make it in time to catch her. But he ran towards her as fast as he could anyway.

A gust of wind and a flash of red flew past Cisco and stopped right under Ari, catching her. The impact and force of the fall knocked both of them over and Cisco ran as fast as he could over. "You guys ok?" he asked as Barry struggled to get up. "I'll be fine. How about you, Ari?" Barry asked.

Said girl sat up and leaned over, throwing up into the grass. "That answers that question. You ok, sis?" Cisco asked.

She began shaking her head after she threw up again. "He's-he's here. I know he's here. He-he's coming for me. I can't escape. _I can't escape!"_ she said. She put her hands on her head and knelt over as her breathing quickened.

"Crap, not again," Cisco muttered, kneeling in front of his sister and avoiding the pile of puke. "Again? This has happened before?" Barry asked. "She's done it off and on since Christmas," Cisco replied.

"Ari. Arianna, listen. It's ok, you're safe. Damien's not here. He's in prison. He's not going to hurt you, I promise. The only people who are here are me and Barry. We're not going to hurt you," Cisco said calmly.

Ari didn't say anything, but gulped and lowered her head more. "Phantom's gone, he can't hurt you now," Cisco added. "He's-he's still here. He's Damien. They're the same, they-they won't leave me alone!" she said quickly, fear rising in each word.

"But he's gone now, he can't hurt you," Barry added, kneeling next to Cisco. Ari's breath hitched before she continued panting. "He's-he's not," she said quietly. "He is, Ari, he's gone. Not for forever, but for now he's gone. Damien's gone and so is Phantom. It's just me and Barry, Ari, we're not going to hurt you," Cisco reassured.

Ari's breathing began to slow and she shakily looked up and around. "See? It's ok, you're safe," Cisco said softly. After a few minutes of tense silence, Ari's breathing slowed to it's normal pace and she nodded. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"You ok?" Barry asked. She nodded. "I'll be fine. Let's get back." Cisco and Barry helped the shaky teen stand, then Barry sped them back to the Cortex.

"You ok?" Tio asked, walking towards his girlfriend. They wrapped their arms around each other as Ari nodded tiredly. He kissed her head and the couple hugged for a minute before separating.

"I want to keep training. I don't want Phantom to be able to get a hold of me like that again," Ari said firmly, "I want to strengthen my powers."

"Alright!" Cisco said happily, high-fiving her. She grinned and high fived her brother. "Let's start tomorrow. You should get some rest," Barry said. Ari nodded. "Walk me home?" she asked Tio, who nodded.

The couple left and it was only Cisco, Barry, Caitlin, and H.R. "Were you guys able to hear any of that through the coms?" Cisco asked. Caitlin and H.R. nodded. "This Phantom thing is really messing with her, isn't it," H.R. said softly.

Cisco nodded. "I don't know what to do. I feel so useless."

"Cisco, what you did for her during that panic attack was perfect. I'm thinking all you can do for her right now is just be there. Sometimes that's all you can do," Caitlin explained and Cisco sighed. "But I feel like it's not enough."

"Well you talked to her, didn't you? What'd she say?" Barry asked."She basically blew me off. I mean, other than saying she wanted to keep training, she wouldn't tell me anything," Cisco said.

"I think we'll just have to be patient. She'll come around," Caitlin said, but she sounded skeptical too. Cisco nodded. "I'm going to grab some food then head home. Call me if you find anything," he said. "Call us if anything happens," Barry said and Cisco nodded as he left.


End file.
